Irish Medicines Board at the Young Scientists Exhibition

18 January 2010

Thousands of students from all over Ireland last week visited the Irish Medicines Board’s exhibition stand at the BT Young Scientist Exhibition 2010. The exhibition took place from Tuesday 12th to Saturday to 16th January in the RDS. The exhibition welcomed huge numbers of visiting students, teachers, parents and members of the general public.

The IMB’s stand focused on building awareness of the development and safe use of medical products. The stand also highlighted the many interesting science related career opportunities that are available in the medical products industry. In addition, visitors to the stand were able to participate in an interactive scientific demonstration which highlighted the challenges involved in identifying real from counterfeit medicines. This demonstration highlighted the risks associated with purchasing medicines via the internet.

The Irish Medicines Board Special Award
Chief Executive, Pat O’Mahony, presented the IMB special award to Caolán Magee, Gavin Fox and Sheá Quinn who are students at the Abbey Christian Brothers Grammar School in Newry, County Down. Their project, entitled 'CPR Assistant', was based around the design of a blanket which assists those administering CPR. An electronic device is integrated into the blanket, which is placed on the patient’s chest, and this guides the person giving first aid through the CPR procedure.

The IMB award is presented to the project that contributes most to an increased understanding of the safe use of, or access to, medicines and/or medical devices.

Teachers Presentation
Cormac Dalton of the IMB also gave a presentation to science teachers on the role of the IMB. 
Download a copy of the presentation


Congratulations to all of the students and their teachers who participated in the 2010 BT Young Scientist Exhibition. Further information about this year's event, including all the winners, is available from www.btyoungscientist.ie.